Hello. How are you doing? Today I want to write about Le Corbusier. I read Corbusier was raised in a home where classical music was always played. Music and mathematics are like siblings as they both share the rule of permutations and combinations, and architecture is based on mathematics combining structures and all the balance beautifully and functionally. Therefore, I respect Corbusier’s brilliant and extraordinary mathematical intelligence from the bottom of my heart.
みなさん、こんにちは。今日はル・コルビジュエについて書いてみます。コルビジュエはいつも音楽が流れる家で育ったと言いますが、音楽と数学はどちらも順列組み合わせを要とする兄弟関係にあるし、建築も総合的な構造物をいかに設計してバランス配分を整えるかが全てなので、コルビジュエが持っていた類稀なる数学的知性に深い尊敬の年を抱きます。
I imagine melodies and rhythms of some kind whenever I see his works. So there is no doubt that some sort of music was going on in his mind always. Not only architecture, but also paintings or wall paintings he created influenced by cubism share the same one of a kind music.
流れる音楽の調べを、その作品の数々を見るにつれてこちらに想起させるコルビジュエの頭の中では、いつも何かが鳴り響いていたことと思います。建築だけではなく、キュビズムに影響されてコルビジュエが描いていた絵画や壁画の絵にも通底したメロディが流れているようです。
I traveled to Germany for the very first time, and paid a visit to Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart that became UNESCO world heritage together with The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo Japan. The architecture was standing at the hill of Stuttgart. And seeing is believing. I could understand why so many architecture lovers get so passionate about Le Corbusier and his works.
東京上野の国立西洋美術館と一緒に世界遺産登録されたル・コルビジュエの作品を、ドイツのシュツットガルトの丘に立つヴァイセンホーフ・ジードルンクで見てきました。そしてやっと彼の本当の意味での凄さが、どうして世界中で熱い視線を投げかけられるのかがストンと理解出来ました。
To tell the truth, the first impression I got was nothing special. I felt it was so usual and ordinary, as I was traveling along and so touched by traditional German architecture and housings that were preserved beautifully for hundreds of years. But some days later, I came to recognize that this “not special at all” impression Corbusier gave me was the secret of his greatness. He suggested the idea to live collectively, and he transformed architecture from that of kings and aristocrats to middle class. Corbusier advocated Five Points of Architecture (pilotis, roof garden, open floor plan, long strips of ribbon windows, and free facade) and the idea spread literally all over the world and got universal. And nowadays nobody pay any attention. He is the pioneer who changed the landscape of the world.
ドイツの美しい何百年も守り続けられてきた古い街並みの中にあって、拍子抜けする位に見慣れたごくごく普通と感じられるこの建築群たち。けれど、この「拍子抜けするくらいに普通だ」と感じさせる感想こそがコルビジュエの開拓者たる偉大さなのです。彼は「集まって暮らす住宅」という概念を作りだし、建築を王侯貴族のものから中産階級のものへと作り変えかました。近代建築の五原則（ピロティ、屋上庭園、自由な平面、水平連続窓、自由な立面）を提唱し、それが世界中へと広がり普遍化し、やがて誰も目を留めず何の注意も払わなくなる。彼は世界の街並みの風景を塗り替えた先駆者なのです。
We can see buildings with long strips of ribbon windows everywhere in the world. But if there were not Corbusier, they wouldn’t exist. Standard is born from a person who creates the standard. There is no standard if nobody produces it. Le Corbusier made trial and errors all through his life and he plowed through his way by learning from the mistakes. And the melodies and the rhythms of music that Le Corbusier composed from his architectural approach is still echoing all around the world even today.
街中にある平凡すぎるくらい平凡に映るビルの水平連続窓も、コルビジュエが居なかったら存在しなかったわけで、今更ながら定番とは定番を創造するパイオニアがいて初めて生まれるものなのだと理解しました。コルビジュエは何度失敗してもその都度新しい方法を学んで、さらにより工夫を凝らしたアプローチで世界に働きかけを続けました。コルビジュエの奏でた建築という切り口を持つ音楽の旋律は、今も世界中で鳴り響いています。
That’s all for today. Blessings to each one of you!
